SHEEN’S ANGER MANAGEMENT NABS CABLE RATINGS RECORD

Charlie Sheen made a spectacular TV comeback last Thursday when he new FX sitcom, Anger Management set a record as the most-watched scripted comedy in cable-TV history, according to Nielsen Research. The series’ debut episode attracted 5.47 million viewers — 2.65 million in the key 18-49 age group. The second episode, which aired immediately following the first, drew 5.74 million viewers, 2.89 million of whom were 18-49 years old. Those numbers may have paled compared to those that Sheen once drew as the co-star of Two and a Half Men, which sometimes drew more than 20 million viewers and averaged around 15 million, but in the cable universe they were regarded as sensational. (FX preceded the telecast with a Two and a Half Men marathon.) FX also debuted its new late-night talk show, BrandX, featuring Russell Brand, last week. It averaged 1.1 million viewers, 687,000 of them in the 18-49 demo.